Despite being rivals out on the court, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan used to be very good friends. The two used to go everywhere together and even shared the screen in "Space Jam." However, over the past few years, Jordan has gone completely silent on Barkley. Friendships go through ups and downs over the years although when it comes to MJ and Chuck, it looks like things will never be patched up.
While on the "Hoops, Adjacent" podcast, Barkley spoke on his complicated relationship with the NBA legend. As he explains, Jordan didn't like something he said about his career as a manager and owner. Barkley noted that he was talking more about the people around Jordan. Regardless, MJ took offense to Barkley's comments and the two have been on rocky terms ever since.
Michael Jordan's Beef With Him">Ethan Miller/Getty Images for The Match
“Don’t you have friends who you’re not sure how they’re gonna react when you’re honest with them,” Barkley said. “Especially somebody on his level. And like I say, hey, I love the dude. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. It’s unfortunate the way things went down. But I’m going to always try to do my job. And actually, my criticism was about the people around him. … I thought the people he hired around him were too many yes men. That was actually my statement, to be honest. I thought the people around him, they wanted the private jet. They wanted the steak dinner. They were always going to be yes men.”
Hopefully, these two can patch things up in the not so distant future. In these uncertain times, you never want to be caught holding a grudge for too long.
[Via]